Another resource are these 2 Holiday Cookie threads.

2010 Holiday Cookies

2011 Holiday Cookies

Quite a few of the recipes are in those, plus a LOT of other yummy ones.

Sorry, I didn't see this thread started until after I posted ton the other. I just suggested checking out the Cookalongs on the FAQ page that Maina has above. Her links kept the formatting too!.

I do have some of the recipes on the other thread (thank you Sherry for Santa's Helpers!), and will check out the links above to see if the others I want are there.
I'll be back if they aren't!

Alexa, what recipe do you use for your Linzer cookies?
And, I see from an old thread that you made the Jewel Cookies on November 28. Do they keep for weeks, like fruitcake? I'm always looking for things I can make ahead.

This post was edited by cloudy_christine on Sun, Nov 10, 13 at 19:59

I would love a recipe for thumbprints. Any suggestions for cookies that are good for teacher's presents? My daughter wants to bake something.

Here's a couple thumbprint cookies that are tried & true. Imake them every year.

Chocolate Caramel Treasures

Cookie type: formed

These are another variation of thumbprint cookie. This recipe came from Gourmet Magazine, December 1999.

Ingredients

For the cookies:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teas vanilla
1 cup flour
2 tbsp whole milk
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teas salt
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts

For the filling:
10 (1 x 1/2 inch) plain caramels,
2 tbsp heavy cream

For the drizzle:
3 oz semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

Directions

For the cookies: Beat together butter, yolk, milk, sugar, and vanilla until well blended. Sift in flour, cocoa, and salt and mix until mixture forms a dough. Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Roll tablespoons of dough into balls, then coat with egg white, and roll in nuts. Place balls 1 1/2 inches apart on a greased baking sheets. Press your thumb into center of the balls to flatten, leaving a depression. Bake until puffed slightly but centers are still soft, 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press centers of cookies again with a spoon. Let cool.

Make the filling while cookies are cooling.
Heat caramels and cream in a small sauce pan over low heat, stirring occasionally, until melted and mixture is smooth. Spoon into centers of cookies and cool completely.

Make chocolate drizzle one hour before serving.
Melt chocolate in a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, stirring until smooth. Cool to warm and pour into a heavy-duty sealable plastic bag. Seal bag and snip 1 corner to form a small hole. Drizzle chocolate over cookies and let stand until set, about 30 minutes.

*I never bother with the drizzle. I also usually use walnuts and not hazelnuts.
*****************

Austrian Jam Cookies

Cookie type: formed

My mom originally got the recipe out of a magazine years ago. I don’t know what magazine. These cookies nowadays go by the name thumb print cookies. I like to call them Austrian Jam cookies because they sound more sophisticated that way. I usually double the batch. A single batch will make about 15-18 cookies. A double batch, you will get closer to 3 dozen.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened (not melted)
1/2 cup sugar
1 teas vanilla*
1 egg, separated
1 1/4 cup sifted flour
2/3 cup chopped almonds**
your favorite flavor of jam

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Beat butter, sugar, vanilla and egg yolk in a medium bowl until fluffy. Stir in flour. Gather dough into a ball, cover and chill for several hours. Roll level teaspoonful of dough into balls. Dip the ball into a slightly beaten egg white. Roll the ball into the almonds. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Space cookies 1 inch apart. These cookies will not spread very much. Press an indentation with your thumb in the middle of the cookie, careful not to go all the way through to the pan. Fill with jam. Bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes.

*Almond extract can be used in place of real vanilla.

** Generally, I think the almonds are a little too hard for the rest of the cookie. I usually use walnuts or pecans.

I like using Polaners preserves for the jam centers. I have also used Smuckers as well as homemade jam.

I baked some cookies the past two days.

I baked Caramel Filled Chocolate cookies from Pillsbury. These got two "Yums" from me and the DH. Definitely the winner. They're good the next day after they've cooled too.

Then there was Nutella Stuffed Browned Butter Chocolate chip cookies (with sea salt). These came out amazingly flat considering what the picture looked like. The Nutella did not stand out either, but still got two Yums for taste. I forgot the sea salt. I found this recipe at www.thebitesizedbaker.com

Today I made Austrian Jam Wreaths from Land O' Lakes website. These are pretty but only made 14 cookies when the recipe said 24. I haven't tasted them yet.

Lastly today I made Gift Box cookies. The cookies themselves look like little gift boxes. It uses vanilla and chocolate cookie dough, layered to look like presents, complete with two triangles and a little ball of dough on top to look like a bow. Cute, but what a PITA to make. Chances are I won't make these again. The website I got it from is hungryatmidnight.com

Here is a link that might be useful: Caramel Filled Chocolate Cookies

This post was edited by booberry85 on Mon, Nov 11, 13 at 20:02

OH MY!!!

I made the Cream Cheese Brandy Cherry Balls for a Thanksgiving Luncheon at Church today and they were
"Da Bomb" as the kids say today!

Everyone that tried them loved them & I can't stop eating the few that are left!

I didn't have any brandy and didn't have time to go get any so I made them without it yesterday. Today the flavors had intensified just as Ann said they would.

I will be making more for the Christmas dinner. I'm in love!

Thank you so much for the recipe,
Betty

Bumping this thread too. I asked some questions above.

Hey CC! Sorry - I definitely should have bumped this one too and I'm sorry I had missed your questions. Yes, the Jewel Cookies do keep well, but I freeze them anyway just to be sure.

And I decided to try the Barefoot Contessa recipe this year:

Mini Linzer Cookies

Copyright 1999, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, All Rights Reserved
. Prep Time:15 minInactive Prep Time:-- Cook Time:25 minLevel:IntermediateServes:36 cookies.
Ingredients
3/4 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup good raspberry preserves
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the butter and sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough 1/4-inch thick and cut 2 3/4-inch rounds with a plain or fluted cutter. With 1/2 of the rounds, cut a hole from the middle of each round with a heart or spade shaped cutter. Place all the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet and chill for 15 minutes.

Bake the cookies for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool to room temperature. Spread raspberry preserves on the flat side of each solid cookie. Dust the top of the cut-out cookies with confectioners' sugar and press the flat sides together, with the raspberry preserves in the middle and the confectioners' sugar on the top.

Thanks, Alexa.
Did you use shortening or butter in the Jewel Cookies? I think you were right to use liquor instead of milk. I'll do that for sure, with either rum or brandy.
And how does the Barefoot Contessa's Linzer cookie recipe compare to others you've made?

I used butter in the Jewel Cookies, I had forgotten to buy Crisco. They are a little flatter than last year, but very tasty.

This is the recipe I have used in the past. IT is a little fiddly since I get impatient with processing the hazelnuts. I have ended up with nut butter more than once. LOL! The flavor is incredible with these though - if you get the hazelnuts to cooperate.

Hazelnut Linzer Cookies with Blackberry Jam
Servings: Makes about 36 sandwiches.
By Karen DeMasco
Photograph by Mark Thomas
December 2006
Ingredients
• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup powdered sugar plus more for decorating
• 5 teaspoons (packed) finely grated orange peel
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1 1/4 cups hazelnuts, finely ground in processor (about 1 1/2 cups ground)
• Blackberry jam
Preparation
• Whisk first 5 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Beat butter, 1 cup powdered sugar, and citrus peels in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in egg yolks. Beat in dry ingredients in 4 additions; beat in nuts. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap; chill at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.
• Preheat oven to 325°F. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out half of dough on lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness. Using 2-inch round cutter, cut out rounds. Using 3/4-inch round cutter, cut out center of half of rounds to make rings. Transfer rounds and rings to prepared sheets. Gather dough scraps; chill.
• Bake cookies until golden, reversing sheets after 10 minutes, about 22 minutes total. Cool completely on sheets. Repeat until all dough is used. DO AHEAD Store airtight at room temperature up to 2 days or freeze up to 2 weeks.
• Arrange cookie rings on work surface. Sift powdered sugar over. Spread 1 teaspoon jam on each cookie round. Press rings onto jam on rounds. DO AHEAD Can be assembled 1 day ahead. Store between sheets of waxed paper in airtight container at room temperature.

Thanks, Alexa. I have some hazelnut flour. I could use that, although the texture would be different. and I'd use the traditional red raspberry jam. I've never made Linzer cookies and always meant to. So little time, so many delicious recipes!
I have to admit I find all cut-out cookies kind of fiddly.